Broken
by Winged Direwolf
Summary: Oliver Queen was kidnapped In 2006, and then some how ended up shipwrecked on a Island. There he met people who become family and fell in love with someone he would have never been able to before. Only to have all of then torn from his life. He has now returned broken, with no purpose apart from his family. That is until he finds a letter that gives him a reason to keep living.
1. Long Time Gone

**Starling City: 2006**

Oliver stepped out into the alley behind the club, the cool night breeze felt nice on his overheated skin. He had spent the last few hours drinking and dancing with Tommy, Laurel and Sara in an over packed club, where you could barely take a step without walking into someone.

Laurel had been drunk and emotional to the point that the blond just needed some fresh air to clear his head and have a little peace. A decision he would later come to regret very, very much.

He was perched up against the brick wall of the ally with his eyes closed, just listening to the sounds of the busy city, cars driving by, the low music still pouring out from the club, a train going by in the distance and of course the sounds of people milling around here and there.

All those sounds blocked out one very important one, there were three men now in the ally, quietly creeping to their unsuspecting victim. By the time Oliver had noticed them it was too late, there was a stinging sensation in his neck, he tried to call for help but no sound comes out and his vision started to blur, he felt dizzy and started to fall forward, the men might of caught him but Oliver didn't know because everything when completely black as he slipped into unconsciousness.

**Starling City: 2012**

"Moira Queen?" A middle aged doctor called out, the man had bright blue eyes and dark brown hair. Moira stood from the seat she had been in for the past three hours waiting for the moment she could see her son. Her son, her baby was alive, if she was truly honest she didn't want to let herself completely believe it until she saw him for herself. For a year Robert and her had searched for him, during that time wondering what happened, if he was okay, why was he taken, why did it have to be him, why her little boy.

Not long after Oliver's kidnapping His father Robert suffered a fatal heart attack, causing Oliver's family to go through another loss. Moira completely shut down after losing her son, but also her husband in such a short period of time, something like this would make anyone shutdown. She grieved for her husband but couldn't bring herself to give up on her son's search for about another year and a half. She eventually decided it was best for all of them to come to terms with their loss of Oliver and have a funeral for him.

She wanted to be there for Thea during the months after Robert's death but she was lost in a pit of despair which seemed impossible to dig out of. That is until Walter came along and helped her dig through the rubble, that's when she started to slowly put her life together after six years, she had come to terms with everything and was somewhat happy. Even Thea was doing well, her grades were up, she was smiling and laughing more, though Moira had the sneaking suspicion that the latter had something to do with a boy.

All in all life was good, then came a phone call three days ago. Oliver had been found shipwrecked on some island in the middle of the Chinese ocean. At first she was just in shock not really knowing how to process the new development and then all of a sudden an ocean of emotions overwhelmed Moira, joy because her boy was still alive, guilt that she had stopped looking for him, anger towards the people that had taken and kept him from her, and doubt because she did not want to give into the hope that it was real, and not just some bad joke her subconscious mind decided to play on her.

With a million different things going through her head Moira said, "That's me." The doctor nodded and motioned to follow him. They ended up in a corridor in front of a door that lead to Oliver's private hospital room.

"Mrs Queen, your son has been through some horrible things, though I can't say what because he has not spoken a word to anyone since he arrived." Moira looked through the glass wall, through it she could see her son, he was just standing completely still staring out the window.

"Not a word?" The doctor nodded then continued on with what he was saying, "Twenty percent of his body is covered in scars, there was also evidence of multiple broken and fractured bones, which have healed completely now." The doctor kept talking, but it faded into background as she looked at her son.

What has he been through? She felt like crying and punching someone at the same time. She stepped forward and was about to step into the room not about to wait any longer, but she felt a hand on her arm stopping her. The doctor was looking at her with a serious expression, "Mrs Queen, I Just want you to understand that the son you lost, may not be the one they have found." Moira nodded and then the doctor let go of her arm, so that she could enter the room. She closed the door behind her to give her and the son she thought she would never see again some privacy to talk.

Oliver didn't even move until his mom said his name quietly, more of a question than anything else. He turned around with a genuine smile be it small but still genuine, he was glad to see his mom, he missed her so much and Thea, surprisingly even his father, He wondered why he wasn't here but he wasn't concerned and all he could concentrate on was the woman crying with a smile on her face in front of him. "Mom." Both their smiles widened slightly as he stepped forward to embrace her.

She held onto him tightly, as if she was afraid that he would evaporate into thin air at any moment, "Oliver, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." The smile that had been on his face slipped into a frown, he didn't want pity. He just wanted to forget. Then he saw his mother's expression, it was one of guilt.

"Sorry for what?" Now looking slightly confused. "For giving up on you, I should have never given up searching for you, maybe if I hadn't you would have been found sooner." Oliver looked at her a moment then said, "Mom I don't blame you for giving up, I've been missing five years. Dropped off the face of the earth, I was stranded on an island half way across the world for most of it, and I'm sure you did everything you could to find me, so don't feel guilty. I'm home now and that's all that matters."


	2. Unexpected Changes

**Starling City: 2012**

Oliver and Moira spent a long time talking in the hospital room that had the distinct smell of disinfectant and rubber gloves. They talked about things he missed while away, about how Thea was doing and the most unexpected was his father's death.

The blond could hardly believe it when Oliver got kidnapped Robert had been in perfect health, and at first he though his mother was lying but he saw the sadness that crossed her face every time he was mention. So they went back to talking about lighter topics.

And if Moira forgot two mention two very important changes well, she just thought it best not dump too much on a man she had just dropped a bomb on with the news of his father's death. He had been through enough and the other news could wait until he was home.

Moira left sometime late into the night promising to come in tomorrow and pick him and take him home. He didn't really want to spend the night in the hospital but the doctors insisted to keep him for overnight observation just to be safe and make sure nothing was wrong.

* * *

Oliver was standing outside the house he had called home for twenty-one years before what happened, happened. It was exactly how he remembered it, nothing had changed, well on the outside anyway.

On the inside it was a bit different, there was bits of furniture here and there but that was about it. It was different yet the same, well I guess to be more precise it felt different yet Oliver couldn't seem to place why that was exactly. Until a man stepped into the enter-way, smiled and said "It's damn good to see you Oliver." Then his gaze shifted to Moira and the smile widened with the affection, like someone would when they looked at their loved ones.

At first he was angry, how dare another man come and replace his father so fast, but then it had been five years since he died, it was only a new loss to him. Out of the comer of his eye he saw his mother's return smile full of the same affection. He remembered the times he held that same smile for someone, how it felt to see someone you love and then see the love reflected back at you from their eyes. The anger slowly dissipated he just couldn't bring himself to be angry, if anything he was happy that his mother had found someone to share that with again.

He would do almost anything do have the person he loved back, but that was a hopeless thought he was gone.

"Oliver, you remember Walter Steele, He was the CEO of Queen Consolidated also a friend of your fathers?" Walter held out his hand to Oliver to shake, but Oliver attention had been drawn to a noise at the top of the staircase, to a person that he wanted to see a lot more then Walter.

He stepped pasted, and stood at the front of the stairs, just as Thea appeared at the top. As soon as she saw her brother a wide smile spread across her face and Oliver couldn't help but returning it as Thea bound down the stairs and basically tackled him in a huge hug. "Hello speedy."

She laughed and hugged him tighter, "I knew it, I knew you were still alive." After a moment she lent back and said, "And no one's called me that in a long time." His smiled widened slightly as he remembered why he had given her that nickname "Well it seemed to suit you, you used to follow me everywhere."

Moira watched with an amused expression on her face, as he son and daughter talked and bickered like they used to and the sight almost brought tears to her eyes. That is until the moment was broken, but a high pitch wail that come from the living room, Oliver flinched slightly at the sound, as hundreds of things flashing through his mind, flashbacks of people screaming, of himself screaming.

He snapped himself out of it and walked towards the room, which the sound had come from. He froze at the door whatever he had been expecting was definitely not what he found.

**Starling City: 2006**

Oliver woke with a pounding headache, bordering on a migraine. He tried to open his eyes but they still felt heavy with sleep, and the tiny bit of light that filtered through when he did made his eyes ache. So he left the closed and tried to figure out where he was through his other senses.

From what he could feel he was on some type of mattress is was hard and full of lumps, but I guess it was better than the ground but not by much. The only sounds in the room was the occasional drip of water, he thought he could make out some voices in the distance but he wasn't so sure.

Not figuring out much from the he tried to remember the last thing that had happened. The memory of the ally rushed back, which made him open his eyes fully and sit up a bit too quickly, making him lighted headed and the dark room he was in spin. He sat still to wait for the dizziness to pass. When he did he saw that he was in a tiny square room with moldy grey walls, the small room only had a bed and a bucket in the corner as well as the metal door.

He got up with not much hope of the door being unlocked, but he tried anyway and to his surprise the door opened when he twisted the metal handle. He stepped out into a much larger room, and froze with an expression he imagine did a good imitation of a deer caught in headlights.

Three men sat at an old wooden table playing a card game. Though as soon as Oliver opened the door all their gazes snapped in his direction. "Well would you look at that sleeping Beauty's awake." Said a tall bald man, the man sitting next to him, was almost identical the only distinct difference was he had a buzz cut instead of no hair at all, he was the one to reply.

"Mm, I thought he would be out for a little longer, considering the dose we gave him and how weak he is." Panic was rising in Oliver as he looked for an escape but he had nowhere to go the only door was on the opposite side of the room, and three very unfriendly looking men standing in the middle.

So he did the only thing he could think of and went back into the small room with the uncomfortable mattress, and sat in front of the door, knowing they would hold them off forever but hoping it might give him a little more time to think. Though the only thought going through his mind at the moment was what the fuck is going on.


	3. Kyra

**Starling City: 2012**

Oliver stared at the scene in front of him, not really knowing what to do. He watched as his mother stepped into the room walking towards a little girl who was glaring at a splash of orange paint on the wall.

"Kyra, what did you do I was only gone for a moment?" Walter said as he followed Moira and knelt down to talk to the girl. She had black hair and light brown skin. From what Oliver could tell she looked to be about three maybe four. Her eyes were a bright green, the same green as his the same as his mothers and realization dawned on him, to say it was a shock would be an understatement.

The girl's expression was one of annoyance as she looked over from the paint to Walter, "It wouldn't turn pink." was her only reply as to why she had thrown the paint against the wall. "Pink?" If a four year old could look exasperated, then she was doing a good job at it as she said, "I mixed yellow and red it should be pink, I was painting a pig. Pigs are pink not orange."

Walter couldn't help but smile at the expression and explanation from his daughter. Walter said something to her about an orange pig, but Kyra's gaze had finally spotted the amount of people in the room three she recognized, but the man standing at the door she didn't know. He was looking at her with a strange expression. She turned back to her dad and pointed at the stranger and said, "Who is that?"

All of a sudden all eyes were on Oliver as if they had all just remembered he was there, Moira froze she didn't mean for him to find out this way, She wanted to tell him about Walter and then she would have introduced Kyra. There was no going back now so she turned back to face her younger daughter and said. "That's your older brother Oliver."

Now the girl just look confused as eyes flicked from Oliver to her mother, "I have a brother?" Moira nodded and the led her over to Thea and Oliver who were standing beside each other at the doorway. "Oliver, this is Kyra."

Kyra was a little overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of this man that was supposed to be her brother, but she was happy all the same she had always wanted a brother. She turned to her sister with a big smile. "Thea, we have a brother! Did you know?" Although it was a bit weird for Oliver to think he had another sister but he couldn't help the small smile on his face from the girl's excitement.

"Yes I knew, Ollie and I grew up together." That answer just caused a whole lot of questions to arise in the small child. "Why have I never met him, you never said anything about him either?" The room suddenly when quiet and there was a strong tension in the air as everyone puzzled over the best was to answer that.

Surprisingly it was Oliver who took the initiative and knelt down in front of her to explain. "I have been gone for around six years, it was sudden and no one knew where I was. I guess I was never spoken of because everyone was upset because they didn't know where I was." Oliver thought that was the best way to explain it to her, when she was older she would find out the whole truth.

"Why didn't you tell anyone where you were?" Oliver guessed he walked straight into that one, he was trying to think of a believable excuse when Kyra spoke again. "You shouldn't go anywhere without telling someone, that's what mum and dad tell me."

"That is very true, next time I will tell someone." Moira saw the amused Oliver held at her daughters advice, but it didn't reach his eyes if anything the only emotion she could see there was sadness, and Moira could not figure out why.

Oliver stood up straight, addressing his mom in his next sentence, "May I be excused, I didn't get much sleep last night and I wouldn't mind getting a couple hours in before dinner." On the way here he found out that Tommy and Laurel would be joining the family for dinner. Before then Oliver just wanted some time to himself.

Moira nodded and said, "Sure, your rooms the same as you left it, I couldn't bring myself to change it." She watched her son walk away with a bewildered expression, the old Oliver would have not of asked to leave, he just did what he wanted when he wanted.

**Starling City: 2006**

A week after waking up in the strange room nothing had changed, apart from the door was kept looked after the first day. He would get meals twice a day and the bucket would be emptied, it was always one of the twins. Who Ollie had come to know as Baldy and Buzz, because he didn't know what their real names were because they never spoke apart from the occasional insult chucked his way, and them telling him to shut up when he started asking them questions about why he was here.

Bored was not a strong enough word for how Oliver was feeling, he had spent the first couple of days yelling at the door for them to let him out, saying that someone would find them. Did then even know who he was, He was Oliver Queen. There was never a reply. Eventually he lost his voice and just laid on the uncomfortable mattress thinking and waiting. Now though he had spent days thinking and really there was nothing left to think about.

The door unlock with a click and swung open, to reveal both Baldy and Buzz, usually it was just one of them. He noticed the black hood Buzz held in his hand. Immense panic arose in Oliver but also a silly determination. He stood up ready to put up a fight, he knew he was no match for this two, but damn it he was not just going to sit there and let them do whatever.

"Aw, look he's trying to be tough. Isn't that cute." Oliver let his fist fly having had enough of their annoying comments. With speed Oliver had not expected Baldy dodged and returned a very hard one that connected with Oliver's face, it had Oliver bordering on the edge of unconsciousness, he heard their laughter as the hood was placed over his head and the was dragged out of the room. Where to, he didn't know and he wasn't going to ask, because he knew he would never get an answer from this two.

* * *

**Author Notes:**

Oliver has been missing for six years. Basically why I changed dates was so that Kyra could be at an age where she could hold a proper conversation, but still young enough to be innocent and little clueless to things.

Here is a rough timeline to but things in prospective:

May 10th, 2006 - Oliver was kidnapped.

February 23rd, 2007 - Robert died.

July 18th, 2007 - Moira and Walter slept together, which eventually turned into a relationship. Also the date Kyra was conceived. Though Moira didn't acknowledge it till she was about four months pregnant, at first she didn't want to keep her but later changed her mind.

March 20th, 2008 - Kyra Queen-Steele was born

April 27th, 2008 - They stopped the search for Oliver.

October 7th, 2010 - Moira and Walter got married.

March 14th, 2012 - Oliver returns to Starling City.


	4. Dinner

**Starling City: 2012**

Dinner was going as well as it could be, Oliver was still getting used to all the changes that had occurred over the period of time that he had been gone. He had missed his friends and he was glad to see them. Tommy was still the same as he remembered him, his appearance hadn't even change to much maybe just a tad older. He still wore his trademark smirk. Laurel had changed a lot more, she had gone to law school and now was a lawyer for a company down in the glades called CNRI, she had always talked about being a lawyer and he was happy that she followed her dream. He noticed something about the two even though Tommy and Laurel tried to hide it, they were going out. He was not an idiot it was easy to tell by the way they interacted with each, the subtle glances and small touches when they though he wasn't looking. He understood why they were trying to hide it, I guess. He just didn't think they should have bothered. He and Laurel had stopped dating a year before he disappeared. He figured out while he was dating Laurel that Tommy had a crush on her, truth be told it was one of the main reasons why he did dumped Laurel. Not that he told her that.

He remembered the days after that in a way there were terrible because he felt guilty about the way he had led Laurel on and they expression on her face afterwards made him cringe at just how much it had hurt her. They had also been good days as well because there was also a feeling of relief for not having to lie and pretend and he found a person that he accidentally told his biggest secret to and they didn't judge him or hate him for it like he had expected in fact he found out they weren't all that different and that they were both lying to the people they loved, stranger yet they were both lying for the same reason.

Sara had come knocking at his door with an aura radiating anger directed at him, demanding to know they reason for leaving her sister. He repeated the excuses he gave to his former girlfriend in a uninterested way, using his playboy attitude to cover the real reasons and how he actually felt. Sara had just yelled at him more, and told him she wouldn't leave until he gave her the real reason, and not to try repeat the same bullshit he gave Laurel because she knew he was lying.

After hours of talking and arguing she had made cracks and chips into his dam of defensive lies and fake attitude and finally the truth spilled from him without him meaning for it to. Two little words that change everything "I'm gay." He had expected her to look discussed and charge out of the room to go tell Laurel the horrible truth. What happened next was not expected, because he had only ever told one other person, his father and that had turned out very, very bad.

She had sat there and openly stared at him shocked, then and air of understanding washed over her which then quickly turned to anger. "If you're gay then why did you date my sister in the first place?" Oliver just looked down at the ground, and told her about coming out to his father, to say he was unhappy about it would have been a large understatement. He had yelled at Oliver saying that it wasn't possible he came from a well-known family and being gay was just not an option. He had refused Oliver's arguments telling him he would marry a girl and have children when the time came, that this nonsense was just something he thought up to annoy his father. In the end Robert had threaten to cut him off.

At first he had wanted to say that that was fine he would just go out on his own, but then logic kicked in. He hadn't finished collage, barely got through high school, never had a job and had been arrested. Without his family name to support him he was nothing, no one. That had scared him and he caved in to his father's demands. Thinking back now he should have just followed his own path he would have survived, he proved he was quite capable of that on the island. Shēngcún.

So per his father's orders he had started dating, a lot. "But, why Laurel?" Oliver's expression was sad as he looked at her. "I thought I could be happy with her, I already loved her as a friend, so I thought maybe as time went on I would come to love her as more." Ollie looked back up at Sara. "But as time passed, I knew I was just lying to myself and to Laurel. I dumped her because she deserves to be with someone who can truly love her. No matter how much I tried, that will never be me." Oliver was waiting for the burst of outrage at his selfish reasons but nothing came for a long time, they just sat in the room in silence. "I think I can understand where you are coming from." Was the reply Sara gave slicing through the silence.

"How are you so relaxed about this? I just told you my biggest secret." Oliver was looking at her with disbelief, "So?" she said with a shrug. "So, I don't know I expected more of a reaction I guess." another shrug, "You probably would have got more of a reaction if you told anyone but me." Now Oliver was just plain confused, "What's that supposed to mean?" Sara smiled as she spoke the next words, "It means that I know how you feel because you chose the one person that shares the same secret." It took a while for Oliver's brain to process the meaning of that, when he did he let the first stupid thought slip from his mouth. "You like girls?"

After that night they became quite close as friends because finally they both had someone they didn't have to lie or hide who they were.

"Oliver? Are you listening?" He was dragged out of his thoughts by Tommy. "No, sorry what did you say?" Tommy rolled his eyes like it was typical Oliver not to be paying attention. "I said I think we should celebrate, it's not every day you come back from the dead." Oliver contemplated that, he didn't really feel in the mood for a party, so he lightly brushed the suggestion aside saying "Maybe in a couple of days, at the moment I don't really feel up to it." Tommy nodded and clamped his hand on his friends shoulder. "That's okay man, Now that your back we have plenty of time." he said it with a big smile. After that the conversation died down into a nice quite exchange of small talk.

They had been talking about the things he had missed while away, Until Thea asked a question everyone else had been avoiding but also extremely curious to know they answer to. "So what was is like?" Oliver held his smile in place, hoping that the question was not leading to where he thought it was. "What was what like?" Thea just looked at him like it was obvious, "The Island." 'The smile dropped and his expression went blank, "Cold." was the only answer they got, Thea was about to ask more but, Raisa had come through carrying a bowl of fruit. She tripped on the edge of the carpet and would have fallen and dropped the fruit if Oliver had not steadied her and caught the fruit. Everyone was surprised to hear Oliver talk to her in Russian. "I didn't know you took Russian in collage Oliver?" Without thinking Oliver said. "I didn't know you wanted to sleep with my mother?" With that sentence Ollie realized he hadn't complete lost his childish side.

He regretted it as soon as he spoke it, but refused to apologize. So he excused himself and went back up to his room. Everyone else just sat there not knowing what to do, apart from Kyra who was oblivious to the conversation and was quite happily shoving various foods into her mouth happily.


	5. Amazo

**Starling City/Star City: 2006**

Oliver is blindly stumbling through hallways and stairways and through doors he has no idea as to where they lead. The bag over his head cuts off his vision so he only has his other senses to lead him and the insistent hand on his back that keeps pushing him forward. Eventually they come out of a door and he knows he is outside. He can feel the cool breeze, the slight heat of the sun and the busy sounds off the city and the people in it. Those sensations are shout lived as he is pushed roughly into a car, a SUV of some sort judging but the height.

The drive seemed to go on forever, at a guess at least five hours. So Oliver decided to act like a kid and ask the most clique question. "Are we there yet?" there was a dark chuckle from the other side of the car he recognized as Buzz. "If you knew where you were going, then you wouldn't want this ride to end, but to answer question we will be there in about an hour and a half." Ollie hadn't really expected an answer he was just bored and wanted to see what would happen. Now he wished he didn't because with that ominous answer from his captor it made him suddenly nervous about what the future could possible hold after this car ride. He had a feeling that was the point, Buzz and Boldly had a messed up sense of humor, they like to watch people suffer, he had observed as much over the last few days.

The car came to a stop and the bag that had been over his head was removed, through the widow the sun was slowly lowering beyond the horizon casting the city and the dock in front of it in an orange-pink glow, it refection on the water with boats haphazardly anchored around, with the city as a backdrop the sight of it might have been pretty if Oliver did happen to be in this particular situation.

Eventually they ended up on a small boat, called 'Life is Nice' what a stupidly ironic name for a boat owned by criminals that use this boat for who knows what. The blond was seated on a chair on the left side, directly near a space where he could jump into the water, he contemplated just that but they were far out by now. They would recapture him before he even got close to shore to get someone's attention, let alone there help.

So he sat the with his heart going a million miles an hour and trying not to think of what was to come, but horrible images and situations just kept playing out in his head no matter how hard he tried to stop them.

The place they were headed to came into sight, it was a large steal cargo ship with the name 'Amazo' written on the side in large white lettering. The small boat they were on pulled up beside it and a rope ladder was dropped down so they could board the ship. He was the first to climb the long unsteady ladder. Once he was at the top two men that apparently didn't speck very good English, hauled him over the side to land gracelessly on the deck with his back hitting the hard metal. He was assisted up by the same men and then lead away to another part of the ship, which turned out to be a makeshift office of a sort.

There was a large desk a couple of filing cabinets, boxes with various different things, a table and counter littered with various science and medical equipment and around the whole room there were books, news articles and other loose bits of paper scattered about. On the far back wall there was a door that opened to reveal a tall man with grey hair. The man smiled a bright smile that projected anything but friendliness, with the smile still on his face he said. "Welcome to the Amazo, I'm Anthony Ivo." And with that he pulled a gun, which Oliver had failed to notice hanging from his belt and shot him. The last thought Oliver had as he fell to the ground in agony was. _Buzz was right I wish that car ride never ended. _Then everything went black, which seems to be a common occurrence lately.

**Starling City: 2012**

Flashes of dark water, the Amazo, lightning, thunder, rain and the feeling of being helpless ran through Ollie's sleeping mind, reliving things he would rather forget. If you looked in his room all you would see is his form on the bed not moving aside from the sight rise and fall of his chest as he breathed not giving away anything that was happening inside his dream. Inside he was a mess, thrashing and struggling. Screaming for something, something he knew was already gone. Emotions tearing him to shreds as they overwhelmed him. As he watched the person he loved sink into the ink blackness of the sea, eyes lifeless with the expression of pain carved into his still face.

Oliver awoke and sat up straight ready for a fight, but once he realized where he was he relaxed glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside table he realized he only got about a hours sleep so he and laid back down, sighing with the lingering fragments of the dream still fresh in his mind. A memory that his brain seemed admit about remembering because every time he tried to sleep he would see it. As if it was taunting him saying, you should have done something and because you didn't you shall relive it over and over again as your punishment.

He tossed and turned to get into a comfortable position, while also trying to lock the painful memories away. His efforts turned out unsuccessful, giving up he climbed out of bed and bent to look under it, he pulled out the large wooden box he brought with him from the island and unlocked it seeking the one thing that might calm him. Inside lay various things, three objects in particular stood out they were all reminders of the people he lost. Yao Fei's hood, the bow Shado tough him with and last was Slade's black and grey keffiyeh, the one Oliver would usually just call a Scarf because he knew it annoyed Slade. A small smile slid onto his face at the memory of back then, it was anything but peaceful but on occasion it seemed perfect.

With the keffiyeh tied around his neck taking in the scent for a moment then he re-locked the box and slid it back into its hiding place. Opining the window let in a pleasant night breeze reminding him of the drafts that would blow through the plane the feeling calmed him so he sat there just staring out at the backyard of the queen estate. Eventually drifting off to sleep. Only to be woken moments with the sound of thunder.


	6. The Letter

**Starling City: 2012**

Giving up on the idea of trying to sleep, Oliver exited his room, the one that used to be so familiar, his own personal escape where he could just get lost in, doing whatever. Knowing that no one would bother him there. Simply it used to feel safe and secure. Now it's a room full of items and other objects that no longer hold any significance or meaning, it feels empty but then again maybe it's not just the room. So many people have just vanished in his life, each taking a piece from him so now he just feels empty.

He found himself in the kitchen he didn't bother with the lights quite happy to manoeuvre around in the dark with the occasional flash of white light coming in through the windows from the lightning. Contemplating what to have he decided on a cup of tea, his first choice would have been coffee, but he seemed to be in a nostalgic mood. Nights like these on the island when they were all holed up in the plane, Slade would start a small fire, Yao Fei would dig around in his bag of herbs looking for the right one, Shado would search around the plane looking for suitable cups while Oliver was the poor soul that had to brave the freezing rain to fetch the water. Then they would settle around the orange flames, sipping their makeshift tea. To be honest it wasn't the best tasting thing, but at that time it didn't matter it was warm and held more flavour than just hot plain water. Sometimes they would just sit in silence contempt in just each other's company, other times the silence was filled with stories of their pasts.

He was leaning up against the table, looking out the window watching the rain slowly run down the pane thoughts still lingering on the island, that is until footsteps on the stairs pulled him out of it. Thea still half asleep walked into the kitchen, turning on the light and heading straight to the fridge. Probably going for a midnight snack, well more of a three o'clock in the morning snack to be more accurate. Just as she was closing the fridge Oliver decided to say something since she hadn't noticed he was there.

"Couldn't sleep?" Thea jumped a little and dropped the items she had been holding, then spun around to face her brother. "Shit, are you trying to give me a hard attack, a little warning when you come in next time," lucky the milk that she dropped still had its lid on so it didn't spill, she lent down to retrieve it. "And no I can't sleep."

"I was already in here when you walked in. Nightmare?" He turned around to look at his sister, she looked tired and a little sad.

"Why were you just sitting in the dark? No not really, I just had a fight with someone and I can't stop thinking about it so I can't sleep. I came down here to make a hot chocolate." Ollie smiled at the hot chocolate part when they were younger, Raisa used to make them hot chocolates when they couldn't sleep, it was kind of strange you'd think the chocolate would keep you awake but it never failed to make them drowsy and soon enough they would be fast asleep.

Oliver shrugged and then sat down on one of the dining chairs, going back to look out in the stormy darkness. "Want to talk about it?" Thea sighed while she walked over to take the seat opposite her brother, cup of in hand. "Not really, I'm just angry with a friend because he keeps putting himself in danger, and I don't understand why it's stupid, he's stupid." The blond couldn't help the little smile that started to form on his face, although when he saw his sisters glare he let it drop. "Sorry. You're worried about him aren't you?"

Her shoulders slumped, like she was admitting defeat. "I just don't want him to get hurt." Oliver just nodded in understanding. They sat in silence for a while happy just to be together, until Oliver asked a question that made Thea choke on the mouthful of the hot chocolate she had just taken. "He's your boyfriend isn't he." He said it as more of a statement, rather than a question. Thea blushed a little in response and nodded. "How did you know?" Ollie shrugged again. "Just the way you were talking about him." The comfortable silence came back and both the siblings lapsed into their own thoughts. Eventually the blonde's thoughts drifted back to a question he had been meaning to ask someone since last night's dinner.

"How come Sara didn't come to dinner last night?" Thea froze not really knowing how to tell her brother about Sara, after a little thought she decided she probably was not the best person to explain it to him. "Um, I think you should ask Laurel that not me." Now Oliver was even more curios and maybe a tad confused. "Why?" It was Thea's turn to shrug. "I just think it would be better if she told you, instead of me."

"Okay." They ended up saying goodnight soon after that and each went back to their rooms, to try and get a little more sleep before the day really started. Though Oliver's thoughts were now thoroughly focused on Sara and what Thea wasn't telling him. Maybe she had finally come out and was somewhere with Nyssa, well that is if they are even still together it has been six years.

* * *

The sun had just risen over the horizon, eliminating the ground with it pale yellow light, the storm had passed some hours ago and now gave way to the blue sky with only a few white clouds. Oliver managed to get a little more sleep after his talk with Thea but still awoke before everyone else was up, with the excepting of Raisa who was preparing a rather delicious smelling breakfast, he popped his head in and said a quick good morning before wandering around the house. In reality he was familiarizing and casing it, noting how to get out, how many steps to get from one room to another, taking in where all the furniture was. It's a skill, well honestly it's turned into a habit, a rather useful habit although not always necessary but it is better safe than sorry, it was one of the first things Slade had taught him taking in your surrounding was very important, especially if you didn't want to get lost or slip up in a fight because you didn't know where something was or tripping over something you didn't see was there.

Oliver had wandered the whole house, when he came to a door that he had only spent a small amount of time in during all the year he had lived here before the island, his father's study. When the door slid open with a squeak he half expected his father to be sitting at the desk leaning over paperwork concerning the family company with an expression of concentration, as he had done many times before.

When he stepped in thought there was no one there, and judging by the thick layer of dust no had been for a very long time not even the maids to clean the room, it was untouched. Ollie looked around, running he fingers over the spines of the various books on the bookshelf and the awards on a wooden mantel set over a small fireplace, when he was small he remembered playing with toys in front of that very fireplace, but as he grew he spend less and less time in here with his father out growing the stage where you are entertained by your toys, so his father made him play somewhere else where he would not interrupt his father while he was working.

Something made him open up the draw on the left side of the desk, when he did it revealed a small brown book and a envelop with his name written on it in his father's handwriting. So he sat down in the office chair to read the letter inside, to say the information it held was shocking may have been just a tad bit of an understatement:

_Dear Son,_

_If you are reading this then it is both a happy and a sad occasion. Sad because it means I am no longer alive and happy because you have finally returned home._

_Now before you continue reading what I must tell you, I want you to know that I never intended for this to happen and I am truly sorry that I did. I also regret that now I must drag you further into it, because if you don't stop it then no one else will._

_I started off trying to do good for this city, but in the end it got twisted and corrupted by the people that helped me, so that instead of helping I was destroying more of the city and not helping anyone. By the time I realized this it was already too late I set the pieces and people in motion, I tried to stop them but I failed and no doubt have been killed to make sure I can never stop them._

_So son, the reason I am telling you this is to ask you if you could right my wrongs and help this city, rid it of those who seek to corrupt, destroy and poison it. I beg that you finish what I tried to do but could never accomplish. The brown notebook attached to this letter has a list of names, names of the people I employed to help me but turned on me because all they really cared about was themselves and the money they have in their bank accounts._

_It is a lot to ask of you, but if you will not do it for me do it for you mother and your sister. I know I was never the best father, but I loved you and your sister. When they took you I swear I tried everything I could to find you, but I was too late and it killed me that I couldn't protect you or find you. I am truly sorry I let this happen to you._

_No matter what you choose to do, know that I am proud of you and I always will be._

Oliver stared at the letter blankly for a little while, the handwriting had been smudged and a little wonky if places as of his father had trouble writing the word that graced the paper. Out of all that was written only one thing was registering in his mind, he wasn't taken at random he had been kidnapped because of his father. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to blame his father, which just made the decision about what he's father asked all they easier, he would do it. For many different reasons, firstly because in a way it was his father's last dying wish. Second because he wants to know who was really behind his kidnapping and last but not least to protect the family he still had.


	7. Again Really?

**The Amazo: 2006**

The sensation of rocking from side to side made Oliver feel nauseous, everything was black but that was because he still had his eyes closed, he slid them open only to close them immediately, the dim lights hung above to bright for his eyes to handle and that when it hit him.

The searing hot pain on the right side of his abdomen, he would have screamed, but his throat was dry and his voice weak so the only sound that came out was a half groan half gurgle.

Opening his eyes slowly this time, he looked down at the wound it had blood seeping out of it in. With a quick look around he realized he was in a metal cell with his back resting on one side. There were other similar cells surrounding him, his vision was still a little blurry but there seemed to be other figures moving around in them. With the motion of the room he was in he realized he still must be on the ship just on a lower deck.

Oliver noticed a little tray that held a few medical items, a curved needle-he couldn't remember the proper name for it- with some thread, what looked like a pair of scissors with the end of the blades curved and flattened, gauze and antiseptic. _Did they expect him to remove the bullet himself? There was no way, I cant possibly, I wouldn't even know where to start._

His unspoken question was answered by a man in the cell directly beside Ollie's, he had a strong Russian accent. "Your going to have to dig it out, that is if you want to live." The blond turned his head to look at the man. The man had dark brown hair and a long beard that hadn't been shaved in a very long time, he looked to be in his early fifties maybe late forties. "And h-how the hell am I suppose to do that?" the man chuckled, "With those." he pointed at the metal tray. "Why are they doing this?" The man's gaze turned to the door on the left of the room "It's a test. He does it to everyone." looking back lifted up his shirt to show a scar where he had been shot. "He wants to make sure you are strong enough."

"What if I refuse?" Shrugging the other man said, "You die." Ollie very much wanted to live, with the instructions of the man in the opposite cell which he now knew as Anatoly. He went through the painful process of removing the bullet, and it was painful much worse then when it went in, that was fast and he collapsed straight after. This, this was slow, first the sting of antiseptic and then digging around in the wound to find the bullet, no matter how dry his throat was he screamed, loudly. After he got a grip of it he pulled it free and then came the stitches. Through out the process he nearly blacked out a couple of times but managed to get past the feeling and continue until everything was done. Then he collapsed into a exhausted sleep.

When he awoke this time it was to the voice of the man that had shot him, he was talking to Anatoly but Oliver's brain was still in a haze of sleep and he couldn't make out the word though when the man came to stand in front of his cell he had roused full and could see the same deceiving smile plastered on his face from before. "So, you survived that's good. What Is your name?" Oliver kept quite determined not give away anything to this man, though he could not figure out what this man could want from him. "If you don't answer I will be forced to use force." with that he decided his best option he had was to lie. "Tommy." The smile faded and Ivo sighed like he was disappointed. "This time Mr Queen I will let you of the hook for lying, but in the future remember I will not be so kind.

**Starling City: 2012**

The letter from his father still fresh in his mind, Oliver started to plan exactly how he would go about the list his father left him. Obviously he could not involve his family. So he would have to disguise himself, become someone else. The wooden box underneath his bed floated to the forefront of his head, well more specifically Yao Fei's green hood. Somehow it felt right wearing it as he purged the city of those who seek to destroy, corrupt and poison his city. Honoring his Biological father as well as the man he had come to treat as another.

He would also need a place to keep all his equipment, but it would also have to work as a cover for where he spent all his time. Maybe a business of some sort, but what? His train of thought was interrupted by a beeping going off, it took him a second to realize that it was his new mobile. Retrieving it from his pocket he saw it was a text from Laurel, asking id he wanted to have coffee with her and Tommy later that day to talk about Sara. He had sent her a text earlier inquiring about her. He agree and they planned to meet when she had her lunch break, at a small cafe close to CNRI.

* * *

Stepping out of the car he told the driver that he would text him when he was ready to be driven home, He saw Laurel and Tommy waiting inside of the little cafe at a small round table. Had just taken a step towards them when he heard the quite footsteps of the drivers approach. Turning around to see what the man wanted he felt the sharp jab of something in his neck, he stepped away ready to turn and fight, but it was already to late the substance had already been injected. Swaying on his feet as he tried to fend of his attacker, the effect already dampening his abilities, The driver just dodged his attacks and waited till the drug took full effect, when it did he shoved the billionaire back into the car he had just gotten out from and drove to the specified destination. Although Ollie was totally out of it and no longer aware of what was going around him, his subconscious thought was _Why does this keep happening?_


	8. I Don't Need a Bodyguard

**Starling City: 2012**

Being tied to a chair was nothing new to Oliver, though he had to admit he was getting quite fed up of it happening all the time. The man that was suppose to be his driver was standing off to the side of the large airplane hanger they ended up in, chatting quietly with three other men. Eventually all four of them came over to him and started aggressively asking questions concerning what he knew about his father, Oliver kept quite after his few attempts to say he knew nothing. They just kept repeating the same things hoping he would eventually give a different answer.

Fed up of there questions, he freed his hands from the poorly tied knots and attacker his unsuspecting kidnappers. It eventually ended up with all four of them on the ground dead. Oliver didn't really want to kill them, but it was necessary to keep his skills and identity secret, especially now that he had decided to follow the list.

At first he was just going to leave the bodies but then he thought there may be DNA evidence linking him to the scene, he could clean that away pretty easily but then what about the bodies. Reluctantly he decided to call the cops, this would mean he would have to put his vigilantly plan into action faster than he wanted. So he cleaned any fingerprints that were on the bodies, called 911, retied himself to the chair and then just waited.

A few officers arrived and untied him, and the started to go over the crime scene telling him to wait till the detective arrived to question him. Oliver sighed as he saw which officers had come, walking through the door was one Detective Quentin Lance. Lance never really liked him even when he was younger, he was just the annoying reckless rich kid friend of his daughters. He dislike grew when he broke up with Laurel and started spending more time with Sara. Lance just thought he was out to hurt his daughters.

"So what happened here?" Lance asked as he and his partner Lucas walked up to him. "I'm not really sure. I was going to meet Tommy and Laurel, when I think I was drugged with something and brought here and tied to that chair." Oliver said gesturing in the direction of the chair. "Then there were lots of loud noises and voices shouting, next thing I knew I was alone in the room with my phone placed on my lap 911 already dialed into it" Lance looked unimpressed as he gestured to the men lying dead on the floor. "And what, these men just snapped their own necks?"

"No, everything was still foggy from whatever they had drugged me with, but there was another man he fought and killed them." Lucas was the one to speak this time. "What did this man look like?" Oliver paused for effect like he was trying to recall what the man had looked like. "He was tall, but that about as much as I can tell you. He was wearing a green hood and clothes that covered the rest of his body."

Lance scoffed. "Yer right, man in a green hood." They asked him a few more questions and then they ended up taking him in to the station not fully believing his story. Back at the station he was question more about, why they had kidnapped him and what they wanted the man in the hood, Lance suspected that it was Oliver that did it but, there was little to no evidence as to who committed the crime, which led to Oliver being released, the mounted of lawyers his mother brought with her also helped his release along. As the blond walked towards the exit, "Your luck never seems to run out does it." Said the detective. The rest of the way back home Oliver pondered what exactly he might mean by that.

Arriving back at the queen manor he was crowded by his sister Tommy and Laurel who were all supporting worried looks. "Are you okay?' "What happened?" "Did you get hurt?" They all asked the questions at the same time. "I was kidnapped, Yes I'm okay and no I didn't get hurt." That didn't satisfy them so he ended up leading them to the formal sitting room, and retelling the story he told the police to them.

He hadn't told the police what they had question him about, he had just suggested that maybe they wanted a ransom from his family but he didn't know because they were killed before they had a chance to reveal what they wanted.

They were a little horrified and a little curious about what they were being told as well has what Oliver when through, The one thing they all failed to realize was how unaffected by today's events Oliver was.

After Tommy and Laurel left, saying they would meet again tomorrow to talk about Sara this time just at the house. Thea ended up trying to catch her brother up on popular movies and TV shows. That's how they ended up bundled in blankets eating popcorn and watching episodes of Doctor who for most of the night. He had been a fan of it before he left, he wasn't as interested now as he was before but it was nice spending the night with his little sister, he missed his mother and father as well as his friends but if he was honest he missed Thea the most, his shadow. Even though they were quite a age apart they had always been close. Ollie couldn't help but still picture her as the little girl that used to follow him around all the time, and not the young woman she had clearly grown into.

Moira looked at her two older children asleep on the Sofa, Oliver was asleep sitting up with his head resting on the backrest and Thea was laid out along the sofa and her head on her brothers lap. The sight brought a smile to her face, she really didn't want to disturb them but she had someone that she wanted her son to meet. Turned out that she didn't have to wake Oliver because as soon as she stepped into the room Oliver awoke and looked panicked until he saw his mother and sister and immediately calmed. "Mom?"

"Sorry to wake you Oliver, but I want you to meet someone." With that she waved the man that had been waiting outside the door in, He was a African American, and from what Oliver could tell from the way he held himself he had some form of military training. He was dressed in a suit. The blond could tell where this was going and he did not like it, If he was correct them his plans just got a bit more complicated. "This is John Diggle, starting today his is your bodyguard."

Frowning Oliver made a move to stand but then remembered his sister, he careful lifted her head and placed it back down where he was sitting and when to stand before his mother. "I don't need a bodyguard."

"Yes you do, Oliver you were kidnapped yesterday and six years ago." She said it sternly in a motherly tone that meant don't argue with me, but her next words where filled with sadness. "I refuse to lose you again, yesterday brought back to many memories and made me realize I should have gotten you a bodyguard a long time ago, maybe if I had you would have never gone missing in the first place."

Hearing that made him eventually agree to have Mr Diggle as his bodyguard, how could he deny his mother the piece of mind that her son was being protected, if only she knew how capable he was of doing that himself. In a way having Diggle would help with his cover and make it seem like he could not protect himself. That being said having him around all the time would make it difficult to follow his fathers list.


	9. Sara

**Amazo: 2006**

For a while Oliver still held onto the glimmer of hope he held, that this was just for ransom which his family would pay and then he could go home and just think of this as a horrible nightmare that he could eventually forget that hope was shattered though after the bullet wound healed to a sufficient standard of his captors and the torture and experiments started in the name of medicine. Well that's what Ivo said anyway, he was looking for a cure.

When the blond mention that he came from money and his parents would pay any sum to get him back the man had shrugged and simply said. "I don't care about money, I have enough to do my experiments. You are more use to me as a text subject." Oliver had argued more and tried to convince him to just let him go home but his attempts to sway them man were to no avail. Ivo was purely concentrated on finding a cure to a decease he had yet to mention to Oliver.

For months Oliver and the other prisoners suffered the experiments of Anthony Ivo the only breaks the had were when they were recovering from a test that failed and needed time to recover to full health, a lot of the time they never recovered. Throughout the previous months most of the faces in the other cells have changed multiple times. The only face he knew from when he first arrived was the Anatoly the man in the cell next to him, who he found out was the leader of a Russian mob called the Solntsevskaya Bratva. At first Oliver seemed intimidated by him, the man had a posture and elegance that even locked in a cage, promised violence and pain if you crossed him. If he ever escaped, Ollie wondered what he would do to Ivo. The man never had a chance to fight against Ivo he was always sedated before he was taken out of the cage and returned in the same way.

After a few days being looked up beside him with nothing much else to do the ended up talking, Oliver found out that he was betrayed by his second in command and that was how he ended up trapped and captured, eventually being handed over to Ivo in much the same why Oliver had. He had also been here for about three months before Oliver arrived.

Over time, they began to form a strange sort of friendship based on comradeship, they had spent a lot of time trying to figure out plans to escape but all their attempts so far failed. On days when there was nothing left to talk about Anatoly would teach him bits of Russian, it had started after Oliver heard Anatoly swearing at the guards in Russian and asked what he was saying to them.

Then all of a sudden the experiments had been put on hold, due to Ivo stumbling over some old documents containing the location to some type of miracle serum that were rumored to grant someone with great healing abilities alongside other various abilities but Ivo was only interested in the healing part. Though Ivo never mentioned it Oliver had the strong suspicion the man was doing all this for a loved one that was sick and could not be cured by normal medical methods, in a way Oliver could understand where he was coming from but kidnapping people and illegality experimenting on them was the part Ollie just could not agree with.

Apparently from what Anatoly and Oliver had overheard from the guard and Ivo himself the serum was located on a small island in the north China sea called Lian Yu. So a week after finding the documents had the Amazo docked just off shore with crewman leaving everyday to search the island.

That is until one day, when gunfire and loud explosions were heard on deck and two men wearing black stormed in they both wore masks half black and the other half was orange.

**Starling City: 2012**

Laurel sat in the queen manor's kitchen with Tommy sat beside her and Oliver sitting across the table looking at her expectantly. She was a little hesitant to start, she just didn't know how to say it. Even though it happened two years ago it still seemed fresh in her memory, and in a why she still didn't believe it but that was a stupid because she had seen it was with her own two eyes. That though gave her the courage to just spit it out and hope that Oliver disgusted by it, like her father had been at first but thinking back on it now her father reaction might have been out of shock, now he regretted it because it drove her away.

She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, you wanted to know were Sara is but first I have to tell you a couple of things so that you understand why she left." Oliver looked at her his eyes expression a question, _She left? _Laurel continued without answering the unspoken question she would get to that later.

"Oliver, Sara was gay."

"She left because she was gay?" Oliver asked with a expressionless face like he didn't even hear what she had just said but it was clear that he had by his question. "Yes and no, I think she left more because of our reactions to her coming out." Maybe it was just Tommy's imagination but he swore his best friends hand twitch like he was fighting the urge to clench his fist. He ignored it though because his next sentence was spoken calmly and Oliver was never good and hiding his emotions or lying, he still remembered some of the excuses he tried to feed his parents when they were younger. "Your reactions?" Laurel looked down at her lap in shame as she remembered her own reaction to Sara's confession, if she could she would go back and change it.

"When she came out, we didn't react well. We were surprised because she went out with so many men and never in the slightest did she seem interested in other women, for god sake she even dated you."

"So you reacted badly and now she had fled from starling city? and I told you before we never dated." Oliver shook his head and reminded laurel that he never went out with Sara like he had told her many times before he was taken. Laurel paused a small frown in her face. "Could have fooled me, I saw you both walk into that hotel room together and how are you so relaxed about this I just told you Sara was gay." a small smile appeared on Ollie's face, if he recalled correctly he had said something similar to Sara when he had come out to her. The smile faded as his thoughts returned to the conversation at hand. Which unsurprisingly Tommy hadn't participated in at all, he just sat their looking from his girlfriend to his best friend as sentence after sentence revealed something new to each party at the table.

"Again I remind you that isn't what you think it was and I'm calm because I already knew." Laurel just sat there gobsmacked, imitating a fish out of water she keep opening and closing her mouth like she wanted to say something but didn't quite know what to say. It was eventually Tommy who spoke.

"Knew what?" He asked not because he was slow or didn't realize what Oliver meant, he asked it more because he needed to be sure that he understood correctly he needed to hear the actual words and he had the sneaking the woman sat beside him needed the same confirmation.

"I knew she was gay." Laurel regained herself and now she was angry Oliver had been gone for six years how could he possible know there was only two options, One he had been in contact with Sara since he got back, but then that would make this conversation pointless which left the other option with was what was making her angry. Sara must have told Oliver before he went missing which meant her sister had told her ex boyfriend about her sexually preference four maybe five years before she told her family.

"Why did she tell you before her family, it doesn't make any sense." Oliver just looked at her like the reason why was obvious.

"She was afraid to tell all of you, she was afraid that you would reject her or you would think of her differently. Which by the looks of it seems to have happened because she isn't here, by the way were did she go?"

Laurel couldn't really argue with that but that didn't mean she was any less angry. "I don't know where she went, she never mention exactly where she was going only that she was running away with her girlfriend, Nyla- Nys- oh I don't remember it."

"Nyssa?"

"Yes that's it." She paused and her gaze narrowed, "How do you know?"

"They were together, when I got taken. She introduced me to her once, actually that night at the hotel is when I met her, which is why I never told you what happened in there because I was not about to reveal Sara's secret."

They ended talking a little bit more about Nyssa and Sara but soon they were leaving and Oliver was left to wander around the house thinking of what to do, eventually he ended up deciding to go on his computer and look for a place that he could set up his base of operations. After about half an hour he had stumble upon his fathers old steelworks building in the glades, it seemed perfect but he would need an excuse to be hanging around an old abandoned factory. Maybe remodel it into something, but what was the question. What would be the perfect cover for a playboy millionaire to be spending his days and nights at, Nightclub. Yes that was perfect he could open up a nightclub and he could have his base underneath. A nightclub wasn't what his mother mother wanted him to do, Moira probably wants him to start working for Queen Consolidated but he wouldn't know the first thing about that and if he did that would most probably take up most of his time and not leave him any to pursue his fathers list.

The he could mange the nightclub but he could then hire other staff to handle most of the club, so he didn't have to do much. He could use it as a cover and do whatever he pleased. He would go check out the steelworks tomorrow and see if it was a suitable site for his plans.


	10. Scarf

**Starling City: 2012**

Over the next week Oliver visited the Steelworks and decided that is was a good place, it had a large basement not on the newer blueprints because it was sealed off years before. So he had started renovating the building and made a new secret entrance into the old basement. He also spent time with his family which including the two new members. He vaguely remembered Walter from before, after getting over the initial grudge he had over him for replacing his father the blond actually started to like the man, he found out Walter never wanted to take Robert's place he just wanted to make Moira happy. Thea had explained that after his fathers death his mother had slowly been breaking apart after losing her husband and her only son and that was when he came along and started picking up the pieces, the help slowly turned to love. Thea liked him because of that, she had felt so alone during that time, it had felt like she had lost all of her family but Walter had brought her mother back and for that she was grateful then Kyra came along and it just made them feel all the more like the family they were starting to become. The new information had made Oliver get over his feelings to the make an actually attempt at getting to know the man a bit better.

Kyra well, she was easy to like, She was only three but she had this adorableness and innocents that made Oliver want to protect her, she also had a habit of being funny in a way she didn't know she was being funny. She also treated Oliver like anyone else not bothering to wrap him in cotton wool and try and shield him from the world because they thought that is what he needed.

At the moment Kyra was curled up on his bed asleep, while he sat on the window seat alternation between thinking with his eyes closed, looking out the window and the occasional glace over to Kyra. The little kid had wormed her way into his heart so quickly and without his permission. He had only realized how much when she had asked about the scarf he always wore, He didn't bother correcting her about its name. He had recently begun wearing it all the time when he didn't have to be in a suit or in front of cameras. Kyra's innocent question lead to Slade and for once instead of dodging the question he had said it belonged to his friend which then lead to him talking about Slade and he hadn't done that at all since he died.

It started when there was a knock at his bedroom door around midnight he though it might have been Thea but when he opened the door and saw the little girl looking at him through drooping eyelids, holding a white teddy bear she referred to as marshmallow. The blond was a little surprised to see the child at his door. "Kyra what are you doing up, shouldn't you be asleep?" She yawned and said. "I was but I had a bad dream. I usually go to Mum and dad but their both downstairs and Thea is listening to music." She gave another little yawn and then continued before Oliver could say anything. "And I wanted to see what's in this room, I was never allowed in here."

Not really knowing what to say Ollie just stepped to the side of the door and gestured for her to come in, which she did and when straight to the bed and sat down. She looked a little more awake now with her eyes wider than before taking in the details of the room she had never seen before.

Oliver had taken quite a lot of the old things that held no sentimental value out of the room because he had no use for them. So it was pretty bare of personal belongings, he kept all the furniture and all the photos but the useless ordainment's and trinkets were removed. Kyra soon lost interest in looking around and laid back, he had thought she feel asleep which he didn't really mind since he wasn't planning on sleeping any-time soon. So he turned his attention back to the window and his thoughts.

Out of the blue Kyra asks "Why do you always wear that scarf?" she had turned to lay on her side and was looking directly at him. Oliver through about lying, just saying he liked it like he told everyone else that asked, but this time the urge to talk about the man who previously owned it surge within him. Which was confusing because he never wanted to talk about Slade since he lost him.

"It was a gift from a friend." a look of understanding took over her face. "Tommy?" Ollie shook his head in a negative motion and said. "No, it was a friend from when I was away."

"Can I meet him?" That brought a small smile to his face, picturing Slade meeting this little girl, he had seen Slade's face when he was with his son, the happiness mixed with affection that his small smile portrayed as he scooped the little boy into his arms for the first time in years. Oliver had just stood behind watching the two until Slade introduced him. He had a feeling that if Slade ever had the chance to meet her, the Australian would get attached to her just like Oliver seemed to be. His smile faltered, thoughts lingering on Slade's son. He hadn't seen him in a year or talked to him in about that long too. Which he regretted but Oliver was weak when it came to Joe which he hated but no matter how much he hated it he couldn't seem to change it. So he let Joe think he was dead just like his father, thinking it better for the both of them but really he was hiding from his feelings concerning Slade. If he saw Joe all of those feelings would crash into him like a tidal wave. Joe was a carbon copy of his father black hair, dark brown eye that almost seemed black even his face held so many of Slade's facial features the only difference between them was his body type, Joe was tall and skinny which Slade said he got from his mother. He was current under the care of Slade's sister Serena he knew that she was bound to see his face on the TV or internet so before he came home he called her and explained that he was alive and going back to America to his family and proposed the story to tell Joe that he had died alongside his father. She had been against it but Oliver tried to explain his best how he felt about seeing the boy again.

In the end she reluctantly agree but not to lie about him having died she just agree to say that she did not know what had happened to him and for that Oliver had been thankful. That being said, he was not heartless he called Serena almost every week Inquiring about the boy, it had been a year since his father died and he seemed to be taking it okay. He was half way through his second year of primary school, his mother was out of the picture but he had his loving aunt to take care of him which seemed to be enough for the little boy even though he missed his father. Serena kept trying to convince him to come and see Joe and in a why he very much wanted to but he felt he was not ready just yet.

"Oliver?" Kyra asked a little worried from the bed. He gave her a reassuring smile and apologized saying he was lost in though then answered her question from before. "You can't meet him he passed away." her imitate response was. "How?" Though Oliver was being a bit more open with Kyra he did want to tell her that, plus the details are a bit to gory for a four year old. So he lied, he was getting good at that. "He died in a car crash." It was a pretty common way to go so he though it was the most believable.

The atmosphere got a little glum in the room after that, so Oliver looked around for something, anything to change the subject he didn't find anything so he opted for the only think he could think of. "What to hear a story?" Kyra yawned and nodded, moving from laying in the middle of the bed to once side, a silent gesture that she wanted Oliver to sit beside her as he told the story. He hesitated for a second, not because he did want to sit with her but because if he accidentally fell asleep he might hurt her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

He decided to just sit with her till she fell asleep she seemed like she was still a little scare from the nightmare she had a while ago.

* * *

Moira was walking down the corridor to check on her daughter before she when to bed. Sliding the door open as quietly as she could and peered into the dark room, she found her daughter was not in there but that wasn't strange most nights she liked coming to either Thea's or her parents rooms. So she knew that Kyra wouldn't have come to their room because both Walter and her were up going over paperwork from Queen Consolidated. So logically she would have gone to her other daughters room. Knocking at the door Moira could hear the music playing but it wasn't to loud, the door opened a second later to revealed Thea in her pajamas with a pen in hand. "Is Kyra in there with you? I checked her room and she wasn't there." Thea shook her head and said, "No she's not with me, She's not in your room?" a slow panic started rising in Moira, but she tried to squish it. Kyra couldn't have gone far, the panic must have showed because Thea volunteered to help look.

They checked all the usual places they could think she might be but Kyra was not in any of those places. Thea didn't know what it was but something lead her to her brothers room, she almost turned away thinking it was pointless looking in there. She checked anyway because what was the harm in doing so. "Mom, I found her." She whispered back into the hallway where her mum was checking the empty guest room adjacent from Oliver's.

There on the bed Oliver lying on his back with Kyra curled into his side, both fast asleep.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter is kind of sappy but i have had this scene stuck in my head since the idea of Kyra was conceived, thus this chapter was born and i can't take it back now. Sorry not sorry. XD**

**As for Joe i don't know if i will be bringing him into the story more, i am still deciding.**

**As always comments are always appreciated, even if the are constructive criticism. I would also like to thank everyone who has followed and favorited this story so far, it never fails to make my day.**


	11. Escape

**The Amazo: 2006**

Oliver hadn't notice when the two had first busted in, but the one of them seems to be hurt, The taller of the two was favoring his right leg and trying to put the least amount of pressure on his left. They were both had blood on their clothes here and there, but his leg seemed to be soaked in it, so Oliver suspected the man had either been shot or stabbed in the leg. It was hard to tell with their full face masks but Oliver suspected that they were both men considering their body builds, but they were wearing some sort of protecting padding that looked a little like the bullet proof vests Ollie had seen in the various TV shows he used to watch. So he might be wrong but he doubted it.

The both had a quick look around the room, like they were looking for something. He wasn't completely sure what, but he had a guess so against his better judgement he spoke, "There are medical supplies in the room." He pointed in the direction of the only other door in the large room, the door led to the room that Ivo used as his Office/Lab/Torture chamber. Both men's heads snapped to look at him. If he had to guess, probably with a look of mistrust and suspicion. The uninjured man made the other stay where he was and then pulled one of the two swords strapped to his back to check the room but before he did the masked man turned to Oliver, "If your lying, I will come back and slit you throat." His voice was deep and gruff with a accent he could not place. With that he turned and went in search of the medical supplies before Oliver had the chance to reply, and even if Oliver had the chance to he didn't really know what he would of said. He was still standing there a little shocked by the threat and the tone of voice that made a little shiver run through him in fear.

The man returned a few minutes later with a first aid kit with many of the same things Oliver he had woken up to in his cell that first time.

He watched the process as the man removed the bullet from his partners leg, Oliver was expecting a scream or maybe a shout but as the forceps dug around in his wound there was just the occasional pained grunt.

After the wound was bandaged, the other man left again through the door they had come through, only to return moments later and head straight to the blonds cell, Oliver backed away from the door so he was as far as he could get from the door and the man about to enter through it.

"Wh-What are you doing?" He was scared, and he was man enough to admit that, the guy had two friggin swords strapped to his back and Oliver was pretty sure they weren't just for show. Plus the threat from the before was still hanging in the air, though he hadn't lied he didn't know what to expect.

What he hadn't expected was for the man not to enter at all. He unlocked the door and stood there holding the cell open, Ollie instead of walking out of the cell like the man expected he just stood there looking at the man frozen not knowing what to do, his brain didn't even processing that the door was open. Until the man let out an annoyed sound and said, "Hurry up, I don't have all fucking day kid." Oliver looked over to Anatoly who had been quiet through the whole thing. He just shrugged and indicated that he should go with a sort of _What have you got to lose _gesture.

The shouts and footsteps were getting closer now, this would be Oliver's only chance to escape from this ship but who were these two men?, he will just have to figure that out later for now he is just going to follow his gut, So he steps out of the cell then stops at a loss as what he is suppose to do. The Man sees this and says, "Help Billy stand. We need to get out of here." Oliver goes to the man he know knows is named Billy and helps him stand, they are about to walk out of the door when Ollie pauses and asks. "What about the other prisoners?" some of them have started shouting for them to unlock their cell or to help them. "We don't have time." as if to prove his point a gunshot goes of down the hallway outside the door. "Let's go. Now!" Oliver wants to argue but he knows there is no point, so just before he walks out the door he looks over to Anatoly, trying to express with out words that if he survives this he will come back and free him. Anatoly seems to get it because he gives a small nod and gestures for him to get out of here.

Billy's partner who Oliver still does not know the name of, navigates the ships hallways and takes out anyone who they run into, Oliver tries not to flinch at the ease of which he dispatches of the people they encounter. Soon they have made it to the ships deck and Billy had pulled out a gun alongside the other man as Oliver unties and lowers a rope ladder to a boat anchored next to the Amazo. With a little difficulty they all end up on the boat speeding towards a island in the distance.

**Starling City: 2012**

Over the next few weeks Oliver adjusted well to being back in starling. Yes he has to lead a double life, keeping two parts of him separate, but he adjusted. Lying to his family was not his intention when he came back, at first he just couldn't talk about it, then he found his father's letter which led to the creation of the the Arrow. He decided to don Yao Fei's hood to hide his identity to keep the people he loves safe. When he first read the letter it gave him a purpose and a detraction from everything that had happened in his past, but he was also angry. What had his father gotten himself into, why did it lead to his kidnapping, why did his father have to involve him. There were many more unanswered questions running though his head and the only one able to answer them is now dead. There was also one other much simpler reason Oliver hid the other side of himself. He was afraid of what they might think of what he had become. What if they saw him as a murderer, a monster an not understand that he had done everything to survive.

What his family didn't know was about three years ago he had the chance to return home, and he decided not to. Thinking that he had changed to much to ever be accepted back into his family, not only was he gay he was also a killer. He was a living weapon, forged through the events and experience on the Island and the Amazo. He was more mature and had seen and done things that no one should have to, but he did because he wanted to survive. Back then he didn't trust his family enough with the man he had become, he didn't even check to see if they were okay, which he regretted now, maybe he could have done something to help his family after his fathers death. At the time he just wanted to forget selfishly happy being with the man he loved and those he had come to call his new family. Losing people and being stuck on Lian Yu alone for six months changed that. He wanted to see and protect his family. If they couldn't accept what he had become he would leave, knowing he had at least tried.

When he got back, he saw how happy his mother and sister where that he had returned, and he just was not ready to take that away from them or himself. So he hid the new part of himself, happy to pretend for a while. Pretending like nothing had changed since he left, Pretending he wasn't plagued by nightmares each and every night, pretending he wasn't slowly breaking to pieces, pretending that his family wasn't the only thing holding those pieces together and if they rejected him he would finally shatter.

Then he found the letter, and it gave him a reason to keep hiding the other half of him, separating himself into two so that he could fulfill his fathers wishes and stay with his family. Not having to worry about telling them the truth because he had a reason to hide it from them, to protect them.

He easily slid into the roles of both Oliver Queen, playboy and the Arrow, vigilantly/murderer. His days spent, with his family and friends, avoiding his bodyguard and running his new club which he named Verdant and his nights are spent roaming the rooftop crossing people off his father's list one by one, avoiding his bodyguard and in Verdant's hidden basement.


	12. New Bouncer

**Starling City: 2012**

Seven weeks after Oliver's return Verdant was finished construction and was a full fledged nightclub. It had now been open for a two months and had been doing good profit-wise. It seemed anything with the Queen's name attached to it seemed to attract people no matter the location. When Oliver first picked the spot it was for the building and not the location, while Verdant was being build he came to the realization that it was in the Glades and might not draw the attention to keep the club afloat independently, so he considered changing location, even looked through other possible building sites but none catered to his needs like the old steelworks building. So in the end he decide to just keep working on Verdant he had already renovated the basement himself and was slowly filling it with all the things you would expect in the Arrows base of operations, training and exercise equipment, technology, weaponry, all the things he needed to make his arrows and various other things.

Plus he didn't want to give his mother another chance to try and convince him it would be better to work at queen consolidated rather than run a nightclub. He had known after a couple of days of being back that Walter and his mother wanted him to work at the company and he was going to at first but now he found something that he was better suited to. He knew nothing about running a business, he barely got through high school, his parents basically bribed his collage into letting him in, where he skipped class and attended wild parties then dropped out because even before he was kidnapped he had no interest in working at his father's company. He didn't even know what he was going to do, he just lived in the moment not really thinking about the future. Content in his status as a playboy and the money and status to stay like that for as long as he saw fit. His lack of education was what convinced his mother in the end to let him do as he pleased. For now at least, Oliver knew she had no intention to let him do what he wanted forever. At the first opportunity she would have him working at the company with Walter.

Oliver would worry about that later though. For now he had a name on the list to warn, a couple hours or restless sleep and then a lunch with his sister, which had become a regular thing of late, he would pick her up from he part-time job on her lunch break. Thea was working at CNRI as Laurel's assistant. Oliver was a little surprised that it had started off as community service, she had been in a car crash with drugs in her system and instead of a harsh sentence she had to do five hundred hours of community service under the watch of a guardian. She ended up enjoying the job and when her time there finished she ended up working there after school and some weekends. She had promised that she had stopped taking the drugs, she had gotten addicted to the drug vertigo, when she tried it with some friends at a party, after the crash she had realized how bad her addiction had gotten, so with the help of Laurel and her mother she had stopped using the drug.

* * *

Thea and Oliver sat at their table, well it wasn't necessarily their table but, ever since they came to the small restaurant and were given the table at the back, close to a large window that overlooked a small community garden, they had requested it each time. The restaurant was just a small family owned place, it had only opened a couple of years ago but they stumbled upon it by accident and immediately liked it, the staff were friendly and pretended they didn't know the siblings were Queens, just treated them like any other customers and gave them privacy to enjoy their lunch.

"So what do you have to do at the club today?" Thea asked as she had another mouthful of the chicken caesar salad. "Nothing today apart from opening, but tomorrow should be interesting." Ollie was looking at his phone, not really putting all his attention into the conversation. "Why is that?" Putting the phone down he took a bite out of his burger, which he would never admit tasted slightly better than the ones from the place Diggle's sister-in-law worked though he would never say that to Diggle. Diggle had a keen love for those burger but Oliver had his suspicions that it was more to do with the sister-in-law that the burgers. "One of the bouncers quit a few days ago, so I'm interviewing some replacements tomorrow."

"Can I come?" That make him look up with a raised eyebrow. "Its not and audition, I'm just going to be asking them a load of questions." Thea nodded. "I know but I don't have anything else to do tomorrow." a slight smirk made it's way onto his face as he said. "Admit it, you just want to ogle their muscles don't you? won't your boyfriend be-"

Thea cut of her brother's sentence, "Who says ogle any more."

"Apparently me, you know I'm kind of six years behind on these things, but that's beside the point, your avoiding the question so I'm going to take that as a yes." Instead of replying she just stole a chip from Oliver's plate and threw it at his head. He just caught it and ate it with a smile because that response just proved he was right.

* * *

So the next day found Thea and Oliver sitting in the upstairs office of Verdant going through the tedious process of going through the interview process with the applicants. Tommy had been helping around with the could in recent weeks, probably because he was just bored but he said it was because he missed hanging out with Ollie. So Tommy had sifted through the applications and picked the ten most suited for the job, while it was Oliver's job to interview and make the final decision on who to hire.

The applicant they just finished interviewing, Belen Henderson would probably get the job, he was kind maybe a little silent but had good references, he used to work in the military, then retired and went into private security in which he was nearly killed so now he felt like doing something a little less life treating without straying to far from his line of work. He kind of reminded the siblings of Diggle, plus as Thea had pointed out that it didn't hurt that he was built like a mountain, anyone wanting to start something would probably just be put off by seeing the guy.

"Looks like we have two more to go." Thea looked down to the clipboard in her hands and flipped threw a few pieces of paper. "Slade Wilson and Daniel Jones. This guy seems pretty interesting, not Daniel but this Slade guy, which is a awesome name by the way don't you think?" When her brother didn't reply she looked over at him. "Ollie?"

Oliver had stopped listening to her as soon as he heard Slade's name, Hope bloomed in his chest but it was quickly squished by the rational side of himself it had to be a coincidence, sure his name was rare but surly there had to be at least one other person in the world with his name. It couldn't be him, he was dead. Oliver saw it happen there was no way, absolutely no way he could have survived. Definitely a coincidence.

The door opened, to reveal a dark haired man, with a eye patch. Wearing boots, cargo pants and a plain black tee shirt. With an unmistakable Australian accent.

It was no coincidence. Oliver stood then went still, not knowing what to do he was still in shock of what he was seeing or rather who he was seeing. He must be imagining it, but as he looked at Thea was looking back and forth between the two like she was trying to figure out a puzzle, So the man casually leaning against the door frame was really there. Many thoughts and questions swirled around in the blonds head, he couldn't choose which to ask first, but when he open his mouth to speak, all that came out was a whispered. "Slade?"

A small smirk appeared on the Australians face, "Hey kid, it's been a while."

* * *

**A/N: Double chapter update, Enjoy. Slade has finally made his appearance, i original had a different scene planned, but this one some how wormed it's way in. Sneaky bugger.**


	13. Lian Yu

_**Sorry for not updating in a long time. I have been busy and had writers block and must have wrote and rewrote this chapter at least ten times. This chapter just wanted to be difficult and i'm not complete sure if i'm happy with it but, oh well the story must go on.**_

_**Thank you to everyone who has left a comment, followed or favorited since the last chapter went up, i still find it nice that people are interested to read this story.**_

**Quick summary to catch up because it has been a while since i updated. **

**2007**_**\- Oliver has just escaped with Slade and Billy from the Amazo, because Billy was injured and Slade needed someone to support his friend to the boat because he couldn't do it with all the people they would run into and who he would have to fight off.**_

**2012**_**\- Oliver and Thea are at the club, interviewing people for the new bodyguard position, when Thea reads out Slade's name Oliver thinks its just a coincidence and it must be someone with the same name, but then a certain Australian shows up and shocks Oliver.**_

* * *

**Lian Yu: 2007**

On the small ride to the island, the two men had completely ignored Oliver and talked among themselves mostly in a different language but he managed to hear the name of the island, Lian Yu, unsurprisingly Oliver had never heard of it, geography was never one of his stronger subjects back when he was in school. The man he still didn't have a name for was driving the boat he steered the boat around the island a bit so that it was unseen by the Amazo, and the let the anchor down.

The three of them jumped of the boat and walked onto the beach where he was lead through a forest a couple of miles, until they finally reached a small concrete structure, it had obviously been build a good fifty or more years ago. Then left abandon for a long time, judging but the cracks and grime layering the outside of the building, vines were creeping up the sides and encasing it in a layer of green leaves. The building had a single door, which the uninjured masked man opened the door make a loud creaking noise that made Oliver think it was going to fall off its hinges. Inside wasn't much better but it was deceivingly larger that in looked on the outside, there were two small cots up against the left and right walls. In the middle was a desk which had an assortment of different weapons, papers and other bits and bobs on it. There were also a few large wooden crates scattered around which Oliver imagine held supplies and food.

As soon as they were in the door they tied him up inside the building that seemed to be acting as their base of operations. Not trusting him even after he told them the whole story about how he ended up on the Amazo. The two men didn't remove their masks in front of him and often kept talking to each other in different languages so that he wouldn't understand what they were saying.

After a couple of days they realized how little of a threat he posed to them, and said that he could make use of himself if he expected to eat and drink, so he started doing menial tasks like collecting water and firewood, because he couldn't do much else. They also started to take of their mask in front of him, Billy was a tall blond man with blue eyes and square jaw. The other man was a few inches shorted than with tanned skin, black hair and brown eyes that were almost black and a beard. They both seemed to admit a military presence but, when Oliver asked about it, both men made it quite clear that is was not a topic for discussion. Though they refused to talk about themselves and what they were doing here, they did reveal where exactly they were. Lian Yu turned out to be a sort of secret prison used by the Chinese government to send some of their more dangerous prisoners and criminals.

The two soldiers still frighted Oliver, he had contemplated running away from the two men, but had though better of it. What would be the point? He didn't know how to survive in the wilderness, let alone defend himself against who knows what or who on this island. He wasn't stupid enough to think that someone would rescue him, who would ever think to look for him on an island made to hold some of the most dangerous prisoners. So what other option did he have but two stay with two men that could easily decide to kill him in his sleep, hell they could decide to do it while he was awake and it still wouldn't make a difference.

Week two was when the training started, he had no warning apart from a boot kicking him in the side with gruff words of the man he had found out was named Slade telling him to get up or the next one will break something. He didn't even know why they started training him, when he asked they had just said that they were going to attack the boat again, and if he didn't help he was of no use to them. So ever day from then on had been a strict routine, get up early, run, sit ups, push ups, failing to do pull ups then in would be hand-to-hand combat training, which always left him with a ton of bruises and sore muscles because these two didn't know how to go easy. Every day training would end with his face in the dirt and his body feeling like someone run over him, and decided that wasn't enough so they reversed back over him just to make sure he was in pain.

Nights were easier but there was still training, but instead of it being physical training it was intellectual, things like tactics, speaking different languages, strategies to get out of difficult situations; such as being tied to a chair and getting out, that had taken some time to learn but he was determined and eventually dislocated his thumb and proceeded to punched Slade in the face which he expected the man to easily dodge but it connected, his head snapping back slightly, which at first had made Oliver grin like he accomplished something huge then it dawned on him what he had just done and he slowly started to panic until he saw the dark haired man's face. He just wore a satisfied smirk, then patted his shoulder and said, "Seems like your not useless after all kid." Then walked away. Oliver stood there not knowing what to do, it felt like he had just been complimented but insulted at the same time, but as the days passed he realized that Slade was really good at doing that.

Slowly his body started to adjust and hurt less and less each day, he lost fat and gained muscle, he was getting better at hand-to-hand combat, Billy had even started to teach him how to fight with swords, they were using two sticks for now but still Oliver saw it as a sign they were starting to trust him a bit more each day, they even revealed they were from Australia and that they had been sent to the island on a mission from a group called ASIS which was sort of like the Australian version of the CIA, which he found cool, because seriously how could he not. In many ways he was still just a rich kid that grew up reading spy stories and superhero comics. Now here he was training with, let's be honest two men who seemed very much like Spies.

**Starling City: 2012**

Oliver couldn't stop staring at that stupid, wonderful smirk on the Slade's face. It made him happy and angry which was confusing. He was happy because he thought he would never see it again, and he still wasn't completely convinced that he was, and angry because if Slade was really here then how could he be smirking like that, like it was just any day other day and he was just getting back for a mission. Smirking like Oliver hasn't been grieving over his death for a whole year. The urge to wipe that smirk of his face was there but the questions in his head outweighed that urge.

"How... I.. you.." The black hair man seemed to understand the question even if Oliver himself wasn't sure what he was asking, all the question seemed to blend together and when he tried to ask, that was all that came out. Slade opened his mouth to say something then he noticed Oliver's sister and closed his mouth to look back at Ollie pointedly.

Oliver was confused for a second then seemed to remember that the two of them were not alone in his office. Thea was looking at them strangely, waiting for an explanation as to what was going on. The blond knew he would eventually have to give her one but for now he really needed to have a private conversation with the Australian to figure out what the hell was going on, and if he was alive all this time why the hell hadn't he contacted Oliver. "Speedy, I need you to leave. I'll explain later." Thea looked like she really wanted to argue but she saw something in her brothers expression that stopped her. She sighed and stood for the chair she was in. "Okay, but you better." She walked towards the door. Slade stood aside to let her pass, while Oliver called out, "Get Diggle to drive you home, this might take a while." Which made her all the more curious, how did her brother know this man? but she agreed and kept walking because she would find out later. She had every intention of holding her bother to his word to get an explanation later.

When Thea was out of sight, Slade stepped into the room fully and shut the door behind himself. They stood like that for a while, Oliver behind his desk and Slade in front of the door just looking at each. Finally Oliver managed to form a complete sentence and actually speak it in a voice much steadier than he was feeling. "Your really alive?" It was meant to come out as a statement but he found himself waiting for an answer anyway.

Slade didn't answer, well at least not in the way he was expecting. He just walked straight up Oliver and pulled the blond into a kiss, at first Oliver wanted to push the man away and demand answers, but Slade kissing him always had a effect on him, especially the way Slade was kissing him at the moment. It was nothing like the quick rushed kisses, or the the hard desperate ones they shared on the island. This one was soft and slow, and meaningful somehow, as if Slade was trying to convey and poor his feelings into the way he was kissing Oliver. He gave into the kiss, reaching one hand up to thread his fingers though the Australian's black hair.

Over the last few years, Oliver was quite proud of the progress he made at hiding what he was feeling. He had build a wall so that he wouldn't let anyone else in, that could break him apart like he did when he saw Slade fell over the side of the Amazo and into the raging blackness below. Right now all that progress was threatening to shatter like glass because of the wave of different emotions that swept through him.

When they finally broke the kiss to breathe, "How?" was the only question he needed answered, the rest could be answered later. Slade pulled back so he could look Oliver in the face, but didn't step away. "The Mirakuru."


	14. Post-it Note

**I don't know how i feel about the last paragraph of this chapter, but i was fed up with continually rewriting, so i'm just posting this before i rewrite it again. Originally i was going to attempt smut but i don't think i would be able to write that, so i didn't bother with it. **

**Also sorry about the title of this chapter, i could not think of a proper one and the post-it note part was going through my head while i was attempting to come up with a title.**

**Please enjoy, Read &amp; Review.**

* * *

**Lian Yu: 2007**

Oliver was tried at a bone deep level, his muscles had grown over the weeks and he was getting accustomed to the training but once in a while it just felt like his body was about to give up on him. Sometimes he would over exertion himself trying to prove to the two Australians that he was capable, and they weren't wasting their time training him. This was one of those times, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it, it was worth the look on Billy's face when he manage to actually get a strike in, it was a short lived victory because the next thing he knew he was on the ground, but he was still extremely happy with himself for managing to at least land one hit.

After that though Billy had been relentless in his training; so that is why Oliver was slowly making his way covered in sweat, dirt and blood to the river near the building they called home, to clean himself and try and relax his stiff muscles. He wasn't looking forward to the freezing cold water, especially in the cold night air, but it was either that or remain filthy.

The blond billionaire reached the river and was just about to get undressed when he heard movement behind him, he turned around expecting to find either Slade or billy but instead found a man wearing a green hood.

He had long black hair and a beard that was slightly graying, but what stood out about the man the most was the weapon he was wielding, a bow and arrow. He had and arrow nocked and aimed strait at him, the last thing he found himself thinking was "This is not good." Before he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, hearing a loud scream Oliver was vaguely aware that it had come from himself but he felt himself slipping, the pain was to much, he slowly gave into the familiar darkness, trying to get away from the searing hot pain.

He woke a few times on the journey back to wherever this man was taking him but would usually fall back into unconsciousness. The worst time out of all the times he had woken up was when that arrow was being pulled out, if he had thought it had been painfully going in, it had been ten times worst coming out, he also had the pleasure of being concious while it happened only to fall back into the blackness once it was over.

The next time he awoke he was in a better state of mind, well more accurately put he was actually able to look at his surroundings and think about more than just pain. The wound still hurt that was for sure but, it wasn't as bad as before, he looked down at his bare chest and saw a rather dirty looking bandage covering the hole he knew was there. Trying to put that out of his mind he looked around, he was lying on a blanket on the floor of a cave, the small space didn't have much in it, the was a long rectangle box, arrows laying in the corner, a few wooden cages made of sticks, dried plants and various other things lying about but it was mostly baron.

Oliver couldn't help but let out a small hysterical laugh, getting kidnapped was becoming a regular thing for him, he wondered if it was something about him that just screamed, kidnap me. Maybe he had a post-it note on his back that he failed to notice like in all those stupid clique high school movies his sister made him watch with her. It probably read, easy pickings. He was still laughing like an idiot at his absurd thoughts when, the once blocked cave entrance started to move, letting in the bright early morning sunlight and revealing two figures.

**Starling City: 2012**

Oliver looked at Slade confused with the answer he had just received, "How is that possible, I thought it just made you stronger and healed your wounds a little faster, not bring you back to life." Oliver had his forehead rested on Slade's shoulder, not wanting to break contact with him, fearing that the moment he did the man would disappear or he would wake up to find that he had been dreaming this up all along.

"I didn't die Oliver, I would have, if not for the Mirakuru. It took a while but it slowly healed my wounds, well accepted for one." Oliver lifted his head so that he could see Slade gesturing to the eye patch that was covering his right eye. In all honesty Oliver hadn't even noticed that it was there, but now it was all he could see as flashbacks of memories came of an arrow sticking through that very eye as he had fallen. "It took ten months to fully heal from my injuries, after I fell, I got swept away in the currents and somehow ended up on a Chinese shore, people found me and took me to the hospital, they thought I was in a coma because my body was unresponsive and that was true for the most part but the last two months I spent in complete awareness because most of the damage had been repaired."

Oliver stood there processing the information, if what Slade said was true that means he had been awake and out of the coma for at least a month and a half, he was about to ask him why it had taken this long to come see him, when he remembered a little someone who would be even more overjoyed to see Slade, although not but much. "You were with Joe." It wasn't a question but the tanned man nodded anyway. Oliver lifted his head, so he could look at Slade's face. "Why didn't Serena say anything, I talked to her a few weeks back?" A slightly guilty expression crossed Slade's face as he said, "I asked her not to say anything, I wanted to see you in person, instead of you hearing about it over the phone." Oliver was glad Slade did it that way, if Serena or even Slade himself had told him over the phone he probably wouldn't have believed it or just thought it was his own grief riddled mind playing tricks on him.

Thinking of Joe brought feelings of guilt, he should have stayed there with him in Australia but he came back to starling city, leaving when Joe had needed him the most "I'm sorry I didn't stay there with him, I just couldn't after you- after I thought you had died. Seeing him, it was just to painful, I looked at him and I saw you, and I just couldn't stay there. I tried but I couldn't." Oliver looked away from the Australian not wanting to look up at Slade's face. He was afraid of what he might see, disappointment or anger that he had abandoned his son, when he had promised to look out for him if anything ever happened to Slade.

Slade lifted Oliver's face by his chin, so that they were looking face-to-face as he spoke. "At first I was a little angry, but I had a long talk with Serena, she told me how sad you were while you were there, she also told me about how you always call her to see how he is doing. I'm not angry you left, I can't blame you for wanting to be with your family. You made sure he was okay, and for that I am grateful."

On Slade's face was one of those rare smiles, not his trademark smirk but one that actually portrayed the emotions that he usually kept hidden behind a emotionless mask. This time it was Oliver that leant in and kissed the man he thought he had lost.

They spent most of the night talking about everything that had happened since Slade had been presumed dead, how he had gotten stranded on the island again, how he was rescued and then went to Australia for a little while only to return to starling. Slade had easily guessed that he was the hood, Oliver was a little surprised at his guess, but thinking about it he really shouldn't have been, after all who else would be running around with Yao Fei's hood, bow and arrow in hand other that Oliver.

The blond knew he should probably go home, Thea was most likely waiting eagerly for him to explain who the mysterious man with an eye patch was, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the man he had only just gotten back. So that's how they found themselves down in the foundry, Oliver pressed against the wall, hands entwined with Slade's over his head, locked in a almost desperate kiss.

Both reaffirming that each other was okay, safe, and there. There hands parted as they started to undress, once they were naked, both sets of eyes roamed the man in front of them, spotting the familiar and cataloging the new. Soon looking wasn't enough, hands roamed over the new scars, storing the information for later to question how they happened.

Oliver led the older man over to the small cot he had put in the foundry, for when he just didn't feel like going home or when he was recovering from the more serious injuries he got while being the masked vigilante. They spent the rest of the night expressing exactly how they felt about each other through contact, because when it came to expressing it though words, they has never been the best, but actions, actions they were always good at. Afterwards both fell into a peaceful sleep entangled in each others arms, finally able to sleep with out twisted memories haunting them in painful dreams.


End file.
